Witch Hunt

The skyway cart pulls to a stop, and we step through the door. We're further into The Reds now, in a neighborhood I don't recognize. Something that has always astounded me about Marble City; It's so dense and sprawling all at once, that even within the borough I've spent so much of my life, there are entire swaths I've never set foot in.

We maneuver through the crowd with the shared deftness of life-long city dwellers. At the bottom of the platform, Alabastra walks us only a short distance before she stops, looking to the sky. From almost nowhere, the black bird swoops down onto Alabastra's shoulders. I jump at its sudden arrival.

CAW, it squawks at me.

"Paella!", she says, as if the bird had uttered something scandalous. "We've gotta work on your mouth."

I cross my arms. "Tell the bird I don't care for it, either."

Alabastra nods. "Moodie says-" CAW, the bird cries an interruption. She winces and turns. "Gee, she says you're more like a Lame-pire. You gonna take that lying down?"

I step toward the bird. "Tell her I know an excellent flight elixir that requires corvid entrails-", I stop. I'm arguing with a damn bird. My eyes narrow in fury at Alabastra. "It doesn't even understand me, does it?" She only offers a smug grin in return.

CAW, the bird screeches once more. Then, it takes off into the sky again. Alabastra says, "Scared her away. Your people skills ain't much better, Moodie."

"Bye, Paella!", yells Faylie, with an exaggerated wave.

Tegan puts a hand on my shoulder, shaking her head. "You'll get used to it." Somehow, that is the most objectionable statement uttered yet.

Alabastra continues down the sidewalk another block, then seems to spot something. "There we go." She points to a short brick building, nondescript and plain. On a small sign above its dirty black wooden door, it reads in chipped painted letters, 'Liquor, Spirits. 12pm - 10pm'.

"This is your peace offering?", I say. At least, I hope that is the case, and I've not just discovered Alabastra's latent day-drunkenness.

"That it is. Nathaniel only loves two things; cheap women and cheap booze. And we are not sellin' today."

Tegan crosses her arms. "Or ever. If that drunk chauvinist makes one more pass at us, I'm breaking his nose." Ah, that would explain their disdain. My gorge rises with further guilt, and I consider calling them off this whole excursion. Yet, it was Alabastra's idea. Would it be remiss of me to ask her not to speak with this man? Might she see me as doubting her autonomy, much the same as this Nathaniel might? Am I overthinking this? I don't want her to see me as a man telling her what to do. Our relationship may be strained, but that would be an unfortunate and uncomfortable facet for it to take.

Alabastra says, "You can break whatever bits of him you like, Stardust, after we get the info."

"His nose is probably the biggest target, though", says Faylie.

"Hey! We big-beak-havers take offense to that!" Alabastra points at her own nose.

The faun scoffs. "Oh, please, it's not nearly as cute on him as it is on you!"

"Damn right." The blonde pulls a wad of cash out of her coat pocket, and palms it into Tegan's hands. "You and Glowbug buy a bottle. Cheap." She stops, and considers a moment. "Maybe get us some bubbly, too. 'Case there's need to celebrate."

A wordless agreement passes between the women, and Tegan nods, and heads inside, grabbing Faylie by the hood of her robes as she goes. Alabastra motions with her head to the nearby alley. Of course, she wants to drill me for more information. Might as well get this over with.

As we walk around the side of the building, she turns, putting one hand against the wall, and the other on her hip. "So. Who'd you bite before?"

Some primal part of my brain urges me to turn and run, and it takes me a second to seize my fight or flight response. I do fail to halt a half-step backwards, but stand resolute. Alabastra's face, having previously taken a quizzical mask, quickly falters into actual concern.

"That's none of your business", I manage through clenched teeth. Lie detection or no, she has no right to rend me of my secrets. She already knows everything that might cause her harm. Anything else is an unnecessary dredging of pasts long-and-rightly buried.

"Stepped on a nerve, gotcha", she says, as close to an apology as she likely gets. "I only ask because-"

"Because you were curious, Alabastra. Don't moralize to me." The remark is more biting than I intend, but not untrue. I think back on years of leading questions, jabbing remarks. I can see them now for the traps laid that they were. How long have I been ensnared in her web, offering up my innermost secrets; innocuous lies and deep-rooted truths alike laid bare before her? "I've been as forthcoming as can be expected, but not every secret is yours to pry."

She bites a lip, considering for a moment. "I'm sorry... You're right." She leans back against the wall, sighing. "I get it. This is the usual reaction."

"I can't imagine why." I lace my tone with sarcasm. Of course I can; few would enjoy having their lies dissected in such short order.

Completing my thought, she says, "Honesty's the best policy... until you're forced into it. Little lies make the world go 'round." There's a hurt on her face. My skills of insight may not be to her supernatural degree, but, assuming I can believe anything she chooses to show me, she seems... vulnerable. "Everything about me is a threat, right?..." Her voice shakes.

I let myself consider, for a moment, what it must be like. Knowing, all the time, what people truly think. Of the world, of their own words. Of you. I've never imagined Alabastra as lonely of all things, but with the life she has led, how could she not be? I've always considered her a social butterfly, but perhaps Tegan and Faylie are truly the only other people in her life. Two more than I have, but, all the same.

Still, it doesn't change what she did. "You kept this from me. For years. Why?"

"Honestly... this. I didn't want you to... see me different. I don't wanna be dangerous to you." She looks down, breathing once through her nose, and says, "But, that was selfish. I'm sorry."

We sit in silence for a moment, unsure what to say next. Regardless of her intentions or wants, she held onto... no, stole my secrets from me, and didn't think that was something I ought to know until I started becoming a threat to the public. Was she ever going to tell me?

She speaks up again. "If we're gonna get through this, I need you to trust me, Moodie. It doesn't work if you don't." She turns, face serious and stoney. "But, more than that... I want you to."

My arms cross. For as much uncommon empathy as I feel for her in this moment, I'm not quite sure I can get there. "I've been unwittingly feeding you my secrets for years. Would you be willing to just forget that, if you were in my shoes?"

Alabastra mulls it over. "I'm... not sure. But, that's all in the past! Now you know!"

"Even still. Your talents mean we'll never really be on equal footing."

She stares at me for a moment, breathing in sharp, and nods. "Then let's make a deal." She sticks out a hand, wreathed in a fingerless glove. "I swear, from here on out, I will never use my Insight on you without your permission. I can't promise I won't try and work things out the ol' fashioned way, but I will Never. Know."

Alabastra Camin is an incredible liar. I've seen her swindle her way through guards, cops, teachers, thugs, Lupine Partisans, and most assuredly me, many, many times. But for all her history of fibbing, she is no oathbreaker. If I can trust anything regarding her, I want to trust that.

"That's a huge level of control you're releasing. You're sure you can resist the temptation?"

Her foxlike grin meets her eyes with a gleam. "I'll miss readin' you. Guess from now on I'll just have to trust. It's a two-way street, they say." Part of me screams that this is a horrid idea. That she'll betray me, of course she'll betray me. She's a criminal and a liar at heart.

But, for a moment... it is a nice thought, to think she may just be telling the truth. I reach forward and shake her hand.

As I do, another thought occurs. If I am going to trust her, perhaps there is something else I might ask. "While we're making promises... I need you to make me another one."

Alabastra's brows raise in interest. "You're learning how to get my attention, Moods."

"This is a serious matter, Alabastra."

"I'm as serious as they come!" She could be standing here in clown makeup and not be greater juxtaposed to that statement.

My posture readjusts to better meet her gaze. "I need you to promise me that you will do everything in your power to ensure that I don't hurt anyone else." I was convinced earlier they would slay me without hesitation, but, after an afternoon with these women... I'm no longer sure their heart is in it. For whatever reason, they seem convinced there is something within me that I cannot see, and with that belief comes the risk of sentimentality at a crucial moment. If Alabastra is truly good for her word, I need her to reaffirm her duty to protect.

Her mouth opens, then closes. Perhaps for once, she thought better of a joke. Instead, she nods once, puts a hand on my shoulder, and says, "You won't hurt anyone that doesn't deserve it when you're with us, Moodie."

"Swear it."

She put up her other hand, a pinkie stuck toward the sky. "I swear." I'm almost amused by the somewhat childish gesture. I wrap my own finger around hers, and she yanks our arms down.

"Swear what", says a high-pitched voice from behind us. I turn and see the other two of our group approaching. Faylie's hand is on her hip in interest.

Tegan carries a brown paper bag with two bottles of liquor poking out the top. "Makin' oaths without your paladin around? That's, like, bad luck, probably."

"No such thing as luck", Alabastra says. She steps from the wall, gathering us in a circle. "Just reassurin' our fanged friend here of some stuff." She pats me on the back.

Faylie shrugs, then holds up an empty hand. "Nothin' in change, by the way."

"I thought I said to get the cheap stuff."

Tegan passes Faylie the bag, which promptly disappears into her satchel, and says, "This was the cheap stuff. Liquor's gettin' expensive."

"Huh." Alabastra walks ahead, an implied command to follow. I'm still not entirely pleased to have been dragged along on this little adventure of theirs, but at least I can put some of my greater worries aside for the moment. If I fall, someone has been told to catch me. Now all I can do is trust.

* * *

Of course, we never can catch a simple break.

We round the corner to Garment Street, a residential neighborhood tucked against one the city's historic walls. The buildings here are bound tightly together, with spiked wrought iron fences and peaked roofs giving the street a jagged appearance, palisades of urban design. Perhaps Alabastra would have had to point us toward our quarried house, if it weren't already so plain to see as we arrive.

Half-way down the block, police wagons have gathered in a semi-circle, pulled across the street to meet painted crossing barriers, a retinue of lawmen cordoning the area from public access. They gather on the lawn of a particular house, a squat home in stark contrast with the sharp points of its surroundings, like it missed the street's dress code.

"Ah, damn", says Alabastra. The half-elf stops, getting on one knee as she surveys the block, hand to chin. "Think they must've been here a while." She points to the age of the horse tracks, the relative few neighbors left staring agog at the investigation underway on their street, the weariness of the law. She paints a concise picture; we are hours late to this affair.

My interactions with the law have never been particularly pleasant. Especially in my younger years, drifting from orphanage to foster home to streets and back again, whether I would get the carrot or the stick was entirely dependent on the whims of the officer. I have been shown incredible kindness by those wearing a badge, but far too many would rather wield it cruelly towards those who have little power to object.

My own actions hardly helped my case. I spent much of my youth an angry, sometimes violent child, with little control of my hungers. I hadn't learned yet to not draw attention to myself. At least, that was what I was told... in truth, I remember little of my childhood at all. Into my adult years, I've learned to keep out of the reach of the law by the simplest means available; staying in their shadow. Limiting my interactions with either the law or its quarries as often as I can. Alabastra and her cohort have always been the greatest wrench in that strategy, but their own discretion helps. They'll pick a fight with the police, but never one they can't win. They cover their tracks.

"What's the play, Allie?", asks Tegan. The paladin is the most law-minded of the three, but that's hardly saying much. Whatever oath she's taken, Do Not Steal is clearly not amongst its tenets. At best, she'll espouse lawfulness for caution's sake rather than any particular moral compunctions.

Alabastra rubs her chin for a moment, then seems to come to a decision, standing with purpose. "We'll chat up the fuzz. They won't tell us straight, but, maybe we can pull something out of 'em." Alabastra walks forward, on a collision course with the Police Line - Do Not Cross barriers. Faylie bounds forward in faux-clueless delight. Tegan walks straight, careful and precise. I fold my arms and follow behind, groaning at the number of ways this could go wrong.

As we approach, an officer takes notice and steps forward, stuffing his hands into his coat pockets and smiling under his bushy mustache with a nasty grin. He waddles like a flightless bird, posture crooked. He's more bald than he isn't, a fact he seems to be the last one to have grasped. And he blocks his eyes with an overlarge pair of shades.

"Shit." Alabastra stops. The other also seize, looking to her for direction. "Came lookin' for one dick, and we found another. Just our luck, girls."

I interject, "I thought you said there's no such thing as luck."

"Not for us there isn't."

The officer reaches the edge of the police line. "Well, well, if it isn't the little deviants", he says, voice scratchy, with a telltale western draw, baked in some desert sun. Of course; all the officers in The Reds, and we get one that seems to know my traveling companions.

Issuing a half-assed salute, Alabastra says, "Officer Nottham. Back from your family vacation to the Nine Hells, I see. How is Beelzebub, these days?"

"Cute", he says, in a way that assures he finds her antics anything but. "Who's the pale one?" He motions toward me with a black baton.

In synchronized motion, Alabastra and Tegan step in front of me, blocking site-lines between me and the officer. Tegan says, "Just a friend, Nottham." Their protective stances tell me all I need to know; Nottham is on the problem end of the cop spectrum. I take the hint, and stay low.

"Any friend of yours is a future problem." His voice carries a sharp and prying edge, as if feeling for a gap to leverage apart the women.

Faylie says, voice carrying an extra edge of disarming cuteness, "What's with all the guys, Officer? Throwin' a party?"

Officer Nottham laughs dryly. "Something like that. A, uh, a goin' away party, you could say." I forget how effectively Faylie can wield her demeanor as a weapon. Perceived naivety is a greater veil than any lie Alabastra spins; her marks have already done the difficult part for her, in believing her innocent.

Behind her back, Tegan's fingers begin to move and shift. The tiniest sparks of divine energy gather at the tips of her gauntlets. A spell left incomplete, hanging from her hands with latent potential.

Alabastra calls out, "I was hopin' to speak to my favorite gumshoe today. Any chance we could come through?"

"What're you, blind? This is a crime scene; I wouldn't let my favorite niece through here, and I certainly won't let you." There's a venom in his tone. I wonder if Alabastra's gotten the better of this one before.

"Well, then where can we find him?"

The officer chuckles. "Wouldn't we all like to know." Thought I can't see his face, I hear the grin in his voice. "The private dick's gone fishin'."

Alabastra says, "Ahh. Guess we'll just have to find him ourselves, then. Shouldn't be too hard..." She employs that same prying tone back towards him, her words like a crowbar to peel back the outer layer. Faylie maneuvers around to my spot behind the taller women, nodding once, and drawing a line through the air, then several circles, like I'm supposed to understand her nonsense code.

Nottham grunts, unimpressed with Alabastra's bravado. "If our department can't find him, I doubt you can. But, hell, call us up if you do."

A beat hangs in the air between us, and for a moment my worry rises that either side will escalate the unspoken stand-off. A weapon drawn, a twitchy hand, is all it would take for discretion to fly out the window. Personally I'm keen to keep discretion inside the building.

The standoff stretches on for just a hair longer than I'm comfortable... before Alabastra says, "We sure will." She turns, motioning a retreat without another word.

Just as I believe we're in the clear, Officer Nottham calls out, "Camin... who exactly do you think you're foolin'?" We all freeze in place. "Struttin' around like you own the place... but everybody knows the truth! You ain't no hero... just another perverted little thief; and pretendin' you're a skirt won't save ya from the long arm of the law, neither." Time slows to a still, utterly arrested. "One o' these days, you're gonna slip up. We'll finally have somethin' we can pin on ya, and we'll put ya away for good. And I'll be damned if I ain't there to see it."

Only second hand from the precise strike delivered, I can still feel it like a shot straight through the stomach. Alabastra's fists curl into tight balls, Tegan's shoulder square, and Faylie looks back in fury. The tension, only just released a moment before, has risen straight to the boiling point.

Then, Alabastra heaves a single, heavy breath... and relaxes. "Not worth it", she seethes, quiet enough for just the four of us. "Let's go." Her voice is pure ice, lacking her happy-go-lucky tone for the first time in... perhaps the entire span I've known her.

Malicious offenders against Alabastra's identity became vanishingly rare as time went on, but they never truly did disappear, whipped up by Lupine propaganda and a handful of national scandals spun into smear campaigns. But whenever one was so brazen as to say it to her face, she would exact brutal revenge. It wasn't long before those stirred into a frenzy learned to keep their opinions to themselves, lest they end up with their dorm rooms trashed, equipment stolen, harassed by park creatures, or trapped on a roof.

But she never seemed particularly angry in those instances. If anything, she talked about those poor fools like she was doing a civic duty, or delivering a natural consequence. There was nothing to feel defensive about; they were simply incorrect, and in need of a lesson.

A far cry from the Alabastra standing before me, practically dripping with fury. To her credit, she never once returns the officer's stare. She simply walks forward, ushering us down the road.

We duck around the intersection, and as soon as we're out of sight, Faylie and Tegan turn to Alabastra in concern. "You alright, Allie?", Tegan's voice shakes.

"I can't believe he freaking said that. I'm so sorry", adds Faylie. The two dote over their leader like a wounded animal. They are all, in fact, rather close, hands on shoulders, arms in arms, touching and tapping and squeezing. Suddenly I'm feeling even more the odd one out.

Alabastra takes a few hard breathes, then nods her head. "I'm fine." At our shared looks of incredulity, she adds, "Well, no, okay, I'm obviously fucking pissed, but I will be fine."

"It's not too late for me to fireball him." Indeed, a burning card pokes out of the edge of Faylie's robed sleeves, from the arm not currently still wrapped around Alabastra.

I feel as if it's not exactly my place to speak, but I do wish to offer Alabastra my condolences. Or at least, what amounts to it. "That was a wildly idiotic display from that lawman. I'm surprised he was so brazen."

Tegan adds, "I'm surprised he's still breathing."

Alabastra closes her eyes, grabbing at her neck. "Trust me, I thought about it. If this were any other day, we'd drop everything and ruin that cop fuck." She refocuses, drawing us a schematic with her words. "He was baiting us... goading me because he knew he held all the cards. And as much as I'd love show him he isn't so untouchable, we really don't have the time."

Is that why she's so angry? Why this instance is different from all the fools at the Institute; that she can't deliver payback? Couldn't even get the satisfaction of correcting him, for fear of sounding pitiful?

If so, it is another aggravation to be laid at my feet. They'd have the time to avenge their leader's honor were it not for my ticking clock. Hells, they wouldn't even be here. I feel it seep in with every step, how my very presence drags these three down. Perhaps that's the nature of my curse. Even when I am not actively drinking blood, I'm still draining the life essence from everyone around me. Robbing them of their animating force, so that I might shamble on a little longer.

"Don't worry, though", Alabastra continues, "He won't get away with it." She stands, and already I see a fire light in her eyes, as she undoubtedly starts to conjure images of sweet revenge in her mind.

"Seems like you have some history with this Nottham", I remark.

Tegan says, "He's always been on our case. I think something, or, uh, maybe everything about us pisses him off." I am admittedly somewhat lost what this everything that Tegan is alluding to entails. "That was a new level, though. Usually that's like, the kind of thing he'd say behind our backs."

Faylie adds, "He gets super angry when he can't pin something on us. Sometimes he'll even try with stuff we didn't do!" She crosses her arms, a flurry of emotions. Then, her mood completely flips, and she gasps. "He's like our nemesis!"

"Nah, nemesis is too good for him. He's more like a nuisance." Tegan has begun taking a sweep of the road around us as she talks, eyes on a swivel. A healthy dose of caution never hurts, but I do wonder how merited her paranoia is.

"A neminuisance!", Faylie chirps, far too proud of herself.

I push down the urge to snark. As unfortunate as this circumstance has been, and as much as I am disgusted at myself for it, we do still have an objective. Best we move on to it. "So, what do we do next?"

Alabastra says, sounding like she's still thinking through her words, "Could swing by the medical department, find out if he's got any allergies..."

"About the detective", I remind her.

"Hm?" She looks up, a pass of recognition over her face. She snaps. "OH, right. Latchet." Standing, she motions us to a nearby alley, away from the sidewalk and the flow of pedestrians. "In a way, I'm almost glad we got Officer Intolerance. Threats aside, someone savvier woulda been a trickier mark. We wrung him dry."

"Was he telling the truth?", I venture. May as well put this talent of hers to use.

She nods. "Mostly, anyways. Badges might have a bead on Natey, but no chance they'll tell us where. We got everything we were gonna get outta him."

The roiling dark clouds that have cast the day in shades of gray issue a warning call of thunder. Faylie pulls up the hood of her robes, horns poking the top to create two peaks. "Nathaniel's missing... Maybe he got lost on the way home from The Stencil Pony." She takes a moment. "Or maybe he fell in a really big pothole."

Tegan ruffles her hooded head. "What's the word, Allie? Related?"

Alabastra stops, connecting dots behind her eyes. "Nathaniel usually handles missing persons cases. He's who you go to if the cops can't help, if your case is too weird to touch. Now he goes missing, at the same time that our little vampling starts missing some persons?" I take umbrage with vampling, but let her continue with little more than an unamused glance. "Something isn't right."

"At the risk of cementing my role as resident pessimist", I say, "We have no reason to believe this has anything to do with our current investigation."

"True..." Alabastra puts a hand to her chin. "But my nose is itchin'. No, no, I'm more convinced than ever; he knew something." Is that the extent of her incredible investigative skills? She has a feeling? I realize with a sudden start how long we may soon be following this whim of hers.

"Fine. Even if that were the case, how do you suggest we find him?"

Alabastra's eyes alight with their usual overconfident flare. "We don't need Nathaniel; we just need his info." She begins to pace. "If we can get into his office, we could look around for any notes or files he might've left behind; clues of what he was looking into next."

"Oh, of course, great idea. So we'll just... stroll right past the regiment of Marble City's finest, then?"

"Excuse me?" She stops, hand on her hip. "I'm Marble City's finest." She accentuates with a flip of her ponytail.

Unbelievable. Not even five minutes out from the angriest I've ever seen her, and she's back to her usual flippant, dare I say flirtatious self. How? If I were in her shoes, I would stew in that rage for hours, days. Years. Let it fester and rot, drive it into my very core and crystalize it. She moves on like it's nothing! How is she always the better for every situation she encounters? It's maddening.

"Hells yea you are!", shouts Faylie. She darts her eyes around nervously when I turn towards her. "Umm. Ma'am." She pulls herself into an attentive salute.

"At ease, soldier", says Alabastra, a goofy grin on her face. Faylie's arm drops to her side. "And to answer your question, Moodie, yes. We are gonna stroll right past 'em."

For the sake of the God's... "Can you not just say something straight for once in your life, Alabastra?"

She smiles like a drunkard, so wide it could break her face. "Haven't you caught on by now? I don't know the meaning of the word."

Yes, that was my point! The other two giggle, and once again I feel I'm the outside party of a joke. I feel a droplet of water on my skin, and look up to see the dark clouds have begun their torrential downfall.

Alabastra says, "We better get this show on the road. Think you can summon up a vanishin' act, Lightning Bug?"

Faylie jumps up in excitement. "We're doin' a break-in today?! YES!"

"Did you forget the octogenarian with the crossbow?", I intone.

"I was trying to..."

Alabastra looks to Tegan. "Keep watch, Stardust. Love ya to death, but you clank like a trash can."

The paladin nods. "As usual, I guess. Good luck."

"Try not to rust out here." Catching my attention with those sharp eyes of emerald, Alabastra says, "Well, Moods, ya ready?" I know I should put my foot down. That I should refuse to let myself get caught up in their tide, once again. Before I do something I cannot take back.

But to whom would I even protest? I'm already here. I've already committed, and any point of return I have long since crossed. For better or worse, my immediate fate is intertwined with these women, and there's nothing left to do but ride it out. My conclusion is as forgone as the rising sun. "... For what?"

"Your first felony."

From behind me, I catch the briefest glimpse of Faylie holding a card with the face of the moon printed on its front, already awash in bright white magic. Her voice once again reverberates with power. "INVISIBLIS."

And in a flash of silver light, we all disappear.